SUSTAINABILITY MONTHLY MEET UP – VALUE NATURAL RESOURCES : MAY 2022

Held in the beautiful surroundings of MOTT 32, an acclaimed restaurant located in Central, this month’s meetup focused on Valuing Natural Resources, one of the ten key areas in Food Made Good’s sustainability audits.

Global demand for cheaper food is being met through intensive agriculture which is degrading eco systems and destroying natural habitats. To counteract this, Valuing Natural Resources means improving energy efficiency, protecting the land and better managing water usage to reduce the environmental impact of food production.

It’s worth noting that around 13% of all energy globally is used on cooking in kitchens and 12% on hot water and refrigeration. What can chefs or restaurant owners do to lower energy consumption? They can begin by applying the 3Ms: metering, measuring and monitoring. Energy bills can be almost halved by upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment. At the same, taking simple steps to conserve water can dramatically lower water bills.

A great turnout from our Future Green Members and Partners

All smiles from the Future Green team

 

ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY DETERGENTS FROM ZERO IMPACT

Frederico Galimberti from Zero Impact then spoke about his company’s range of eco-friendly detergents which, as the brand name suggests, have a much lower environmental impact than traditional detergents. These are manufactured in Italy by Sutter, a Swiss company that started its business in 1856 by manufacturing shoe polish made from apple skins.

In 2015, the company decided to launch a range of sustainable detergents that are non-chemical, fully biodegradable and allergy-free. Frederico noted that, “Chemical detergents have been linked to 26 different allergies. For people on the frontline who deal with chemicals every day, the chemical accumulation can be very severe.” Pets, children and the elderly especially benefit from Zero Impact detergents.

The Zero Impact range is entirely made from natural vegetal ingredients that have powerful cleaning and sanitizing properties. Their Zero Impact Force range is ideal for restaurants and incudes degreasers for different kitchen areas, floor cleaners, window and mirror cleaners, bathroom solutions and a sanitizer made from lactic acids. HKUST, The Jockey Club, English School Foundation, and Kerry Properties are just some of the Hong Kong businesses now using Zero Impact.

Cynthia Lok from Clean and Federico Galimberti from Zero Impact

Heidi Spurrell, CEO Future Green Good HK with the Zero Impact team

 

PLANT-BASED MEAT FROM GOOD FOOD TECH

The next speaker was Joshua Ng from this exciting local food start-up. Good Food Tech’s mission is to produce future foods that are good for the planet, consumer health and your taste buds. Joshua then turned to Asia’s love affair with meat especially pork. Over 50% of the world’s pork is consumed in Asia, with China eating 50m tons annually. In total, the world eats 360m tons each year.

“Eating meat is more disruptive than you might think,” said Joshua. He pointed out that meat production accounts for 70% of global arable land use and consumes 30% of all freshwater. It uses 80% of antibiotics leading to widespread antibiotic resistance that now kills more people than HIV and Malaria combined. It’s also responsible for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, more than all transportation combined.

Take the average pig. In the 28 weeks from birth to slaughter it consumes 1,600L of water, 360kg of crops and 12g of antibiotics – all to produce 75kg of edible pork. By comparison, 75kg of plant-based pork requires just 60L of water, 40kg of crops and zero antibiotics. Moreover, it can be produced in one hour rather than 28 weeks! Meat also comes with high transport and logistics costs as millions of tons is shipped around the world annually with Brazil and Australia being the top two exporters.

As ‘Food for Thought’, Joshua then asked the questions, “What if plant-based meat could give you the same sensory experience as animal meat? What are your concerns about a plant-based alternative?” Good Food Tech has recently launched its Plant Sifu range featuring a plant-based ‘fatty pork’ that has all the flavour and is much healthier to eat.

Joshua Ng from Good Food Tech

 

A MOUTHWATERING MENU FROM CHEF LEE

Tasting is believing and during the talk a delicious 8-course Vegetarian taster menu, created by MOTT 32’s Chef Lee, was served. He used Good Food Tech’s pork to cook up a range of dishes that included Shanghainese Soup Dumplings, Vegetarian ‘Pork’ Siu Mai, Smoked Peking ‘Duck’, and Stir-fried ‘Pork’. The unanimous verdict was that these plant-based meat dishes were sensational.

Chef Lee from MOTT 32, Heidi Spurrell from Future Green Good HK & Joshua Ng from Good Food Tech

Delicious Plant-Based Pork Dumplings

Jimmy Wong from The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Farrah Ibrahim from Good Food Tech
& Simon Guthridge from The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

 

Meet ups are a way to educate and inspire! Learn more about Zero Impact, Good Food Tech and MOTT32.

The Sustainability Meet-Up Series is a monthly gathering designed to educate and empower the Hong Kong foodservice community – chefs, restaurateurs, FOH, BOH, suppliers and sustainability leads.

Inspired by our framework, the programme is curated to inspire the community, in novel ways through which they can bring in small but significant changes to their sourcing choices, menu design, supplies, just to name a few. We will be organising talks and activities delivered by sustainable food industry leaders, on various themes linked to UN International Days and our three pillars – Sourcing, Society and the Environment.

A big thank you to our supporter InvestHK and our sponsor Fresh Accounting and kind hosts MOTT 32 for making this event possible.

 

This content was created prior to our rebranding to Future Green, as of 28/11/22, when we were known as Food Made Good HK.